UK shares closed lower as stocks trimmed more off the huge gains seen last week and ahead of a Federal Reserve decision tomorrow.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to commence this afternoon, with an announcement on interest rates set for tomorrow, which is making investors jittery about committing to the market.
Although policy makers are widely expected to hold off on a rate rise until next year, there will still be plenty of rune reading and semantic studies going on now and later.
FTSE100 closed 51.75 points lower at 6,365.
Chris Beauchamp, at spreadbetter IG Index, noted: "Equity markets are in retreat once more, as nervous investors continue to trim the gains made at the end of last week.
"In London, Anglo American and Antofagasta led the market lower, as caution on miners persists while the Chinese government meets to set new objectives for economic growth."
Anglo (LON:AAL) was the biggest laggard, dropping 5.67% to 557.4 p. Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) eased 4.05% to stand at 544.5p.
On the winning front was drugs firm Shire (LON:SHP), which added 6.9% to 4,927p after a phase III trial showed significant improvement through the use of Lifitegrast - a dry eye treatment.
The drug met both its primary and secondary targets with symptoms substantially reduced over 84 days and benefits visible as soon as two weeks.
Shire said it plans to use the trial data as part of the resubmission for lifitegrast in the first quarter of 2016.
It was just as bleak for oil firms, which saw the price of a barrel of Brent crude fall 1.8% to US$46.67 and a barrel of West Texas Intermediate slide 2.7% to US$42.82.
BP (LON:BP.) eased 1.14% after it had been 1% higher this morning.
The group had reported profits of US$1.8bn for the third quarter, almost half of the US$3bn for the comparative period of 2014, but ahead of expectations.
In the mid-cap space, TalkTalk (LON:TALK) rebounded today on reports that the police have arrested a 15 year old in Northern Ireland in connection with the cyber-attack last week.
“We know this has been a worrying time for customers and we are grateful for the swift response and hard work of the police” a spokesperson said. Shares rose 13.23% to 255.10p.
In small cap world, African Potash (LON:AFPO) surged over 18% to 2.58p as its fertiliser trading ambitions were further boosted after it struck a deal with Ecobank Malawi.
The deal means in effect, payments from offtakers to the company will be guaranteed.
In mining, Landore Resources (LON:LND) added 34.78% to 0.78p.
Budget shoe shop Shoe Zone (LON:SHOE) was higher as it said it expects sales to be slightly below last year as it continues to cull its loss-making stores, but pre-tax profit is in line with market expectations. Shares gained 5.71% to 194.5p.
Conversely, shares in Amino Technologies (LON:AMO) plummeted over 30% to 109p today as it blamed poor sales and delays in orders for a new high tech TV for a profit warning.